dcfandomcom-20200222-history
Action Comics Vol 1 583
and eventually earned honorary Legionnaire status with that guise. and Super-LanaThe Earth-One Lana acquired several power sets and aliases over the years, most notably Insect Queen, a member of the Legionnaire Reserve. In this story, however, she goes back to her "Super-Lana" identity and powers as previously seen in and . as they take on the group of villains outside the Fortress. Luthor has Lana kill him so that Brainiac would no longer have any control of him, but the Legion of Super-Villains quickly destroy Lana afterward. Jimmy comes to avenge her death, but Brainiac resumes control of Luthor's body long enough to kill Jimmy and to launch a missile that rips a gaping hole into the Fortress. With the Fortress breached, Kryptonite Man enters, seeking to kill Superman, but Krypto attacks and gives his life to kill the radiating villain. Superman carries Lois Lane and the trophy with him when he sees the Legion of Super-Villains inside his Fortress, gloating about the deaths of Lana and Jimmy. This makes Superman angry enough to attack them with his heat vision, causing them to retreat and return back to the future. Outside the fortress, Superman sees that Brainiac's head is losing control of Luthor's body as it succumbs to rigor mortis and detaches himself from it, vainly trying to crawl its way toward Superman before it goes completely dead. It is at this point that Superman begins to consider that somebody must be behind all the villains turning against him, and so calls out Mxyzptlk's name. He appears unto Superman, revealing that he has grown tired of becoming a mere nuisance and is now deciding to become fully evil. Mxyzptlk also starts to change from his harmless impish self to a hideous dark creature intent on overpowering Superman enough to kill him. Superman then looks at the trophy, realizing that its Superman figure is holding a Phantom Zone projector, and so goes to get the Phantom Zone projector to use it on Mxyzptlk. As he activates it, Mxyzptlk speaks his name backwards in order to return to his home dimension, but finds himself being pulled into two different dimensions and screams as he is being ripped apart. Realizing that he has just broken his own moral code to not kill, Superman goes into the Gold Kryptonite chamber to strip himself of all his powers as Lois Lane sadly watches on. With the force field Mxyzptlk kept active now powered down, the heroes outside the barrier enter the Fortress to find dead bodies of all of Superman's friends except for Lois, Perry White, and his wife, still alive. They see that Superman has departed from the chamber through a secret passageway and is now wandering outside in subzero temperatures where presumably he will die. In 1997, Lois Lane Elliot tells the reporter that any possible rumors of Superman still being alive after that are not likely to be true. As the Daily Planet reporter departs, Lois's husband Jordan Elliot brings their son Jonathan into the living room, where he plays with a piece of coal that he turns into a diamond. He and Lois both decide to relax with a pizza and a bottle of wine. | Appearing1 = Featured Characters: * * Supporting Characters: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Antagonists: * * * ** ** ** * * * ** Other Characters: * * Tim Crane * Lori Lemari * Titano * * Locations: * ** *** *** *** Fifth Dimension ** *** Daily Planet *** **** * 30th Century * Kandor * Smallville Items: * * Vehicles: * * * | Notes = * This issue follows . * This issue was reprinted in and . *The two-part saga is intended to represent the "final" Superman story, but does not actually take place within canonical Earth-One history. This is evidenced in the second part by the appearances of Captain Marvel, who became part of the New Earth universe following the Crisis On Infinite Earths and the modern-day Wonder Woman, whose history was rebooted following what happened to her in Crisis On Infinite Earths #12. *Superwoman's survey of the carnage in and around the Fortress of Solitude is another indication that this is not an Earth-One story as she had revealed that she was a direct descendant of Jimmy Olsen who had become a great editor like Perry White. | Trivia = * Regardless of DC's editorial intentions, this "final" Superman story was presented by DC as being an "Imaginary Story", a Silver Age convention, revived especially for this occasion, that served to tell "What If?" stories that would have been considered series-killers if they were to happen in the "real" continuity of the comic. * Noticeably, Lois' husband Jordan Elliot is named for Superman's biological father Jor-El while their son Jonathan is named for his adoptive father Jonathan Kent. * The cover art features four real-life figures at the head of the crowd waving Superman goodbye. From left to right, these are: Murphy Anderson, Curt Swan, Jenette Kahn, and Julius Schwartz. * The cover art was later recreated by Brian Bolland for the 2009 "deluxe" collection of "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" Bolland's version notably excludes Perry White, Lightning Lad, and all the real-life figures apart from Schwartz. | Recommended = | Links = }}